What Tour Operators Don't Tell You
It doesn't make any difference whether you arrange a trip on your own or use a tour operator, there are always surprises along the way and not all are pleasant. There are simple surprises that aren't a big deal and usually involve:
- Squat/pit toilets or no toilet. (A beautiful Japanese monastery stay more than compensated for the walk to a squat toilet.) Always keep tissues and/or small amounts of toilet paper handy;
- No electricity or outages. Always travel with a small flashlight. Not only useful in outages but also in dark, sightseeing areas, e.g. caves;
- Unusual foods that you don't have to eat;
- Insects (leeches in the forest, bedbugs in even 5***** Star Hotel these days, mosquitos (known as "mozzies" to the Aussies we've traveled with), and some of the most persistent sand flies we've ever been bitten by. Take along insect repellent.
And then there are the "surprises" that tour operators don't tell you about that may sound exciting and/or glamorous in the brochure but reality is completely different. Two boiler plate tour examples:
- Thailand. A 5-hour boat ride in a simple long-tailed motor boat on the Kok River from Chiang Rai, heading back towards Chiang Mai sounded like fun and was part of a Golden Triangle Tour run by a well known tour operator. Today, the great majority of the tourist boats begin in the opposite direction, and motor the Kok River from Thaton to Chiang Rai. Then, our Diethelm group had the river all to ourselves without the heavy river traffic of today.
What they didn't tell us is you sit on the bottom of the boat across the beam - width of the boat from the port side to the starboard side - stacked butt-to-butt next to each other facing in opposite directions. The first hour was fun, zooming up the Kok River passing tiny hilltribe villages, bamboo huts and jungle scenery. Back pains began during the second hour while pins and needles shot up and down legs. By the third hour, the noisy long-tailed boat motor and vibrations had deafened us and my tan had turned a nice shade of pea-green from nausea. Thank God for frequent stops at river checkpoints. The group would stagger out of the boats onto dry land, stand weaving from side-to-side and take fast pees in the bushes. The fourth and fifth hours were agonizing. Nuff said?
- Ecuador. We tacked on a 5-day excursion into the Amazon Rainforest on the Flotel Orellana, a three-deck riverboat that explores the Coca and Napo Rivers and Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve of Ecuador. A military plane flew us to Coca, the capital of the Orellana province, and we met a group who had just disembarked off the Flotel preparing to fly out to Quito. They approached us laughing and asked, "Did they tell you about the Orellana?" With puzzled looks we asked, "What are you talking about?" "You'll find out," and boarded the military plane out.
What they didn't tell us was that the Flotel Orellana got stuck on a sand bar weeks ago and wasn't going anywhere! The Flotel has motorized dugout canoes to carry guests along the riverbank and into the jungle for a reasonable distance but that took care of "floating gently down the Rio Napo".... Before you book this trip, ask if it has ever moved off the sand bar...
If you don't ask before you go...even what you may think is a ridiculous question, the tour operator isn't going to tell... SURPRISED?
